Calvis Albertus
When the Arcane R&D arm of the Church was abolished, they officially disbanded. However, within a decade the guild was re-established, with an experimenter and politician (rare combo) at the head. The founder of the guild is generally credited with being a scholar of great foresight and confidence; when the arcanists were officially disbanded and exiled, he told them 'Change always wins' before turning on his heel and exiting with his case. This is probably apocryphal, but it does capture his personality. This remark is worth paying attention to, because of its implications. He didn't mean it as an idealistic prediction, but a remark about human nature; the practical benefits of science are preferable to the spiritual, and there would always be a need for better technology to keep a society going. His prediction turned out to be right on the money, quite literally. In fact the shipbuilding guild were the first to make extensive use of the arcanists. The founder was originally a director (loosely translated) of the R&D arm; he had a powerful position but was not that well respected; he was considered a loose cannon at times and a bit too much of a freethinker. He was indirectly involved in the bioelectric experiment, being the one who funded most of it. In fact when he read about the results of the experiment, he warned the head that the Church was not going to be a fan of this- but he furiously opposed any suggestions of leaving it unpublished, or falsifying the data. The Infamous Event When the arcanists were disbanded, it looked like they would leave quietly. They retracted their paper, publicly apologised, and left to the outskirts of the city. This was a result of negotiations in which they agreed to surrender to the righteousness of God and apologise. Once all (known) copies of their manuscript had been burned, they were more or less forgotten by the Church. People still remembered, and for the next few years pretty much everybody was complaining in some way or the other, about something falling down and the fixes being adequate at best. It turns out that getting rid of your finest technologists and architects, in a society powered by (arcane) technology and architecture, can have consequences. After a few years, a rich noble and merchant actually approached the guild himself, asking them to build him a magnificent mansion. The only specifications were that it u had to be brilliant and dazzling, and that it had to be fortified somehow. The founder was initially insulted by being degraded to the level of mere constructor, but (for once in his life) was convinced to change his views. Once the economics were explained to him, a slightly evil grin came over his face (apocryphal) and he immediately accepted. The arcanists then reformed themselves to be a craftsmen's guild first and foremost, mostly tailor-made products for richer nobles and merchants. They became a kind of weird underground artists group, who were sort of well-known but still not acknowledged by most. Personal life Little is known about his personal life. His parents were minor nobles who had connections to the R&D arm of the church. They initially got him in on a political favour but this was (secretly) not necessary since the council would have admitted him on the strength of his talent and charisma alone. While there he mainly studied architecture, since Greek architecture had always been a favourite study of his; one of his projects was a (strictly theoretical) extension to a Greek theatre, to make it almost functional again. Such a thing wouldn't even be contemplated as a practical suggestion, but nonetheless an impressive design. Beyond this, his personal life is so obscured behind reams and reams of mythology- such as the apocryphal 'Change always wins'- that it can't be discussed without degrading into vulgar speculation. And even if it was known, some things should be left with an air of mystery about them. Writings/works Remarkably, not many of his works (at least surviving ones) are scientific or investigative. Most of what survives today are extracts from his diary, and treatises on the philosophy and politics of science. These are surprisingly ahead of his time, in that they actually set out rigorous practical guidelines for the scientific method. They also discuss the _economics_ of science in the form of essays comparing technology, money, and political influence as types of power. He ultimately concludes that economic power is currently the greatest since it can buy any other easily. It also postulates (drifting into the realm of fiction) that in a society which was saturated with technology, technological power could triumph over the others. The example he chose was that of a world with continents and settlements far apart and separated by expanses of water; in such a world trade would be dependent on advanced, top-quality ships of the line. These would need guilds to craft and maintain them, who could strangle the economy for the foreseeable future on a mere whim. This work has gradually been forgotten (being so far ahead of its time), but perhaps it's a little more apt today. His main work (the one regarding the scientific method) begins with the principle that for truth to advance, we must never reject realities which disagree with our theory, or attempt to twist it into our theory. From here, it reiterates this using a not-entirely charitable example of the church and rails at them for ignoring this; it includes various slightly unrealistic technologies which can be researched now that the nature of the power is established; he postulates a massive artificial storm sphere to provide energy and to annihilate entire fleets. It eventually returns to the point of the treatise, and establishes the idea of "Nullius in Verba"; trust nobody's word above what is observed. It has a wide readership among intellectuals of the modern day, both among scientists/engineers (arcanist faction) and liberal artists. The liberal artists admire it (except those of a theological bent), but the scientists essentially worship it; if you asked them to choose between this and the bible most of them would freeze up in horror.